


Trust (a Hunnigan's DSO file)

by musetraxed (muselives)



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: Gen, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:14:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23018386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muselives/pseuds/musetraxed
Summary: Still early in their new partnership, Leon Kennedy and Helena Harper build trust by talking over take-out and bad beer.
Kudos: 17
Collections: Hunnigan's DSO





	Trust (a Hunnigan's DSO file)

**Author's Note:**

> With thanks to 50+ readers of this Hunnigan's DSO AU of mine, especially those who left kudos, it makes my day. Special thanks to Callust.
> 
> Set post- _RE6_ , prior to [Safe for Christmas](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22822288). Additional details in the collection profile. Story edited only by myself, all mistakes my own.

“Harper, that’s disgusting.”

Helena Harper gave a snort that qualified as laughter while her new partner looked at the tin can of light beer he’d just tried with a doubting frown. “I told you, if you wanted better stuff, you shouldn’t have sent me on the run,” she replied.

Leon Kennedy shook his head but went back and took a longer draw from his drink. Now that he knew what to expect, she doubted he’d complain about it again. It had been that way the last couple of times they’d gotten a drink together, although this was the first time Leon had invited her over to his place.

The remains of their take-out had been pushed to the far edge of the coffee table. The television, turned down low, had been playing Warner Brothers cartoons for the last two hours. She had no idea what channel they were on or how long this block would last. It was what had come on when Leon turned the set on and he hadn’t bothered channel surfing before digging into his dinner.

But dinner was mostly over and they were just drinking now. It was either too late or way too early for most people and other than some automated noises and the occasional bark of a dog a few blocks down, the night was pretty quiet.

These sessions were never about getting drunk, thank god. If they ever had better stuff than this, they nursed it, drawing it out. Once Leon had brought out a deck of cards although they’d abandoned the game well before the half-way point. Now, he just turned the TV on and when they were finished eating, they’d talk.

Eventually. Right now the silence was comfortable, something Helena had really missed having in her life.

Tonight, Leon started first. “Worst sandwich.”

“Egg salad.” He gave her a look and she brought up her hands. “What! It’s gross. What’s yours?”

He shrugged. “Just don’t put tomatoes on it. Otherwise I’m not picky.”

It went back and forth from there a few times. It had felt kind of funny the first time they did this, lobbing questions back and forth to get to know each other better. They had survived multiple terror attacks together. Helena was wiling to bet she knew more about Ada Wong than even Director Hunnigan did because she had seen Leon in action around her, how he had protected Ada and just how obvious his feelings were.

Sometimes it came back around to the serious stuff like that. Like now, as Leon was leaning back further into the couch, staring up at the ceiling. “No, I’d rather be thrown out of a plane then be stuck on a boat.”

“A cruise isn’t a boat.”

“A boat’s a boat, Helena. I don’t care how fancy it is. You still go out in the middle of the damn ocean and hope nothing goes wrong. At least if my chute fails, it’ll be over soon.”

She looked at her partner who had closed his eyes. Gallows humor and a certain frankness about death was par for the course in any branch of law enforcement. She had seen her fair share of it in her short career but she could admit that no department earned that valve quite like the DSO. The horrors they had seen weren’t easy to forget and Leon Kennedy had seen more of them than most.

He seemed to be aware of her staring at him but he didn’t move from his spot or open his eyes again. Just when she was starting to wonder if he was asleep, he said, “Whatever you’re thinking, you can just ask me.”

So far that had been true. There didn’t seem to be a lot that was off-limits with Leon except the most obvious things and those were generally pressure points Helena didn’t want to lean on anyway. He was obviously still greiving President Benford’s death; everyone who knew him knew it, even if no one knew how to get him to open up. She’d already given back Ada’s compact. Beyond that, the guy was a workaholic. She wasn’t even really sure there was much more to his life.

The TV screen flashed and she glanced over. When she looked back, Leon was sitting up, looking at her. Waiting.

“How do you keep doing this?” she asked.

Not _why_. That part she understood on a gut level. But she’d only gone through two linked attacks and a few smaller incidents since joining the DSO. Leon had been doing this for more than half her lifetime.

“It’s all I’ve got.” His voice was quiet but steady, and the answer came without much of a pause. “People who died in Raccoon City… I was supposed to be there, as a cop. Then I showed up and more people died helping me get out.”

Leon leaned forward so that his arms were resting on his knees. He turned a little enough to look at her. “I met Adam after Raccoon City. Claire had split off to find her brother and I was responsible for Sherry. Adam and I cut a deal that I would work as a federal agent and he’d keep her safe.” He looked away, shaking his head. “If I’d have known even half of what they were going to do to her...”

Her hands curled into fists involuntarily at the thought. She wasn’t shocked to notice that Leon’s were already clenched too.

But he continued in that same steady, quiet voice. “I made a promise that I wouldn’t stop until the virus was wiped out. But then another virus was created, and another and another. My family didn’t get it. We just cut each other out. But Adam’s star was on the rise and he told me to hang in there, that I’d have a hand in creating the DSO with him and Hunnigan.”

Helena let that go without remark. Usually, Leon was very careful to use the new director’s title when there was any chance of anyone overhearing them but otherwise it was just _Hunnigan_ , spoken with a mixture of pride, affection, and respect that Helena would expect for a decade-long partnership. It didn’t matter that Leon had been in the field and Hunnigan had been over-comms support.

But it was telling that she was _Hunnigan_ and only ever Hunnigan, whereas Leon usually called her Helena unless he was trying to make a point. Whatever line they’d crossed, whether in Tall Oaks or Lanshiang, it didn’t seem Leon was on a first name basis with the DSO director. Helena wondered if anyone was.

Leon had gone silent long enough for her to get lost in her thoughts but as he grabbed another beer, he started up again. “I met Ada Wong in Raccoon City.”

That statement was like being dunked in an ice bath. Helena turned and stared at her partner.

Leon wasn’t looking at her as he sipped his beer. As expected, he didn’t have anything else to say about the taste when he lowered the can. “She was a mercenary posing as a FBI agent. She had inside information on the Birkins and a bone to pick with Sherry’s mother, Annette. When she got injured making her way into the Umbrella facility, she manipulated me into doing the leg work for her and tried to get me to hand over the G-Virus to her.”

This time Helena bit her lip. It wasn’t necessary to remark that that didn’t surprise her. She’d only met the woman once but she absolutely seemed the type--and she was pretty sure that wasn’t just her anger at Ada talking, even if the woman had shot her infected sister in the head with a crossbow bolt. It was more about knowing Leon anyway. A younger, less jaded Leon working with a woman that cool and confident? No wonder he’d fallen under her spell.

Even though she hadn’t said anything, this time Leon seemed to sense her thoughts. He shot her a look before he said, “I know. It was stupid.”

“But you didn’t do it.” That wasn’t hard to guess, based both on the man in front of her and the intervening years since that time. “So what happened?”

“We were on a bridge.” His head dropped and he spoke towards his now empty, uncurled hands. “It collapsed. I tried to hold onto her but she fell. I thought she died.”

Then he looked up, his voice taking on that familiar wry curl as he said, “But that woman has nine lives. I ran into her while I was on mission to rescue Ashley Graham. Ran into her again in the Eastern Slav Republic. A couple of other times besides. Every time I found an excuse to leave her out of my reports.”

It was only a little shocking to hear Leon admit it out loud. Even if it had been obvious how much he cared for this woman, it meant he had, at times, in varying degrees, put her above the job. A job he’d just said was all he had for the last half of his life. Helena had thought she was being a little too pointed asking him in Lanshiang if there was more between them. Now her partner was telling her exactly how much Ada Wong meant to him, all but admitting she was his blindspot.

Of course as Helena turned this over in her mind, she thought about Deborah. Deborah had been her blind spot. Leon had seen Helena literally at her worst, chosing her sister over her job, over _national security_ and ultimately the president’s life.

Leon’s _friend_ ’s life.

But he had never held that against her. He had her back, right from the beginning, even when she was too afraid to tell him what she had seen at the cathedral, wondering and worrying that he would blow her off like the other secret service agents who knew her by reputation. It had almost been a blessed relief when Hunnigan had introduced them and Leon had no reaction to her name.

In the time that she had been thinking, Leon had finished his can and returned it to the table. Their eyes met before he grabbed two more, offering one to her.

She took it and cracked it open. _In for a penny, in for a pound,_ she thought as she drank. Once she had brought her beer back to her lap, she asked, “What are you going to do if you see her again?”

“Nothing.” The answer was just as immediate and decisive as his reason for why the hell he was still in this fight. But this time, he undercut it with a sigh, and a retraction. “Protect her, probably, if I can. But she usually shows up when it’s my ass on the line and pulls me out of the fire.”

“No wonder you love her.”

She expected more of a reaction to that but Leon’s mouth just quirked up to one side before going back to his thoughtful frown.

Helena tried again. “Are you telling me this because you want me to stop you?”

That seemed to shake him out of his thoughts. His frown deepened as he turned to her.

She held her ground. “Leon, I’m your partner. Ada Wong is a mercenary. She’s worked with you when it furthers her aims. She might even care about you but she’s still put herself first. I’m not going to let her get you killed. If it’s you or her, I’m picking you.”

He gave a soft huff at that, a humorless laugh, but his frown had eased up. “You don’t trust her.”

“No.” She thought for a moment and said, “But I do trust you. And what happened in Tall Oaks wasn’t her fault.” Not even Deborah, even if she had been angry with her at first.

Leon considered that and then finally gave a single nod.

There was another stretch of silence after that, still comfortable, and they worked the way through the rest of their beers. A few more words were shared as they got up and cleaned up the mess, ready to part.

At the door, Helena stopped and Leon waited patiently, his expression telling her the same thing it had before they started unpacking his past.

“Did you ever tell Director Hunnigan?”

An interesting look passed over her partner’s face, too fast for her to categorize it, but Helena was instantly intrigued. She had to lock her curiosity down as Leon said, softly but firmly, “Not yet.”

It was her turn to nod. When she got one back, she realized that was all they really needed for goodbyes. She smiled and thought Leon did too for a moment. Her smile was still in place as he closed the door behind her and she headed out.


End file.
